


Wishing On Fireflies

by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Fireflies, Kissing, Relaxing Summer Evenings With Friends Are The Best Thing, Things You Can Wish On Other Than Stars, the fluffiest fluff that ever did fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-03 19:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14002734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel_in_ink/pseuds/Angel%20Ascending
Summary: It was harder to catch fireflies than Jester had thought it would be. The insects were nearly invisible when they weren’t blinking, and the patterns they moved in weren’t predictable at all. There was also the fact that she was easily distracted by her friends, once they had gotten the cart and horses taken care of and had joined the two girls in the field, setting up camp apparently postponed to take in the scenery. Jester approved of this fully, because what was the use of traveling if you didn’t just stop to take things in once in awhile?





	Wishing On Fireflies

**Author's Note:**

> Out of all the things that happened in the latest episode, it was the fact that Jester had never seen fireflies before that I immediately focused on. I knew I had to remedy this immediately.

It was early summer, and the air was filled with the scent of lilac and honeysuckle as the Mighty Nein traveled along the long road that would eventually lead them to Rexxentrum. The journey had been slow going, but Jester didn’t mind, not even a little. The world was so much bigger than she ever could have dreamed when she was younger, alone in her room with her books and her imagination as companions, and she wanted to see _everything._

The sun was just beginning to set when Jester thought she saw a tiny dot of yellowish green light out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head, seeing nothing for a moment, and then it appeared again, there and gone in the time it took for her to blink. It was smaller than the lights Caleb would summon for the group when they were in the dark or when he wanted light to read by. Was the Traveler playing tricks on her again? He did that sometimes, making her see things that weren’t strictly there. Well, there was an easy way to figure that out.

Jester elbowed Beau in the side and the monk yelped in surprise. “Ow! Jester, the fuck?” She exclaimed, rubbing at her ribs.

“Sorry!” Jester sometimes forgot just how strong she was. “I just wanted to know if you were seeing what I was seeing.” She pointed in the direction she had last seen the little blinking light. There were more lights now, moving and blinking in their own strange patterns.

“Yeah, I see them,” Beau said. “It’s just fireflies,” she said dismissively.

Jester grinned, nearly bouncing in place from where she was sitting in the wagon. “I’ve never seen fireflies before!”

“Oh that’s right, I completely forgot!” Excitement crept into Beau’s tone, as if Jester’s mood was contagious, and her face softened into a smile, eyes bright. Jester loved when Beau smiled. Outwardly, Beau tended to look serious or downright grumpy, but Jester knew that inside Beau was soft and even sweet, like the filling of some fancy chocolate. “We should totally catch some when we stop for the day. Did you know that if you crush fireflies while they’re glowing, their guts keep glowing after they’re dead? Then you can use them like glowing face paint!”

“You know,” Molly said from his corner of the wagon, “some people believe that fireflies are the souls of the dead.” He smiled at Beau, all teeth. “Just how many souls did you snuff out as a child, Beau?”

“We are not going to kill them anyway,” Jester declared, ignoring the look that Beau shot at Molly. “They are much too pretty.”

“You can make wishes on fireflies,” Yasha said, her voice a quiet rumble as she leaned against Molly. “Just like stars. You have to catch them first though.”

Jester thought about what she would wish for if she caught a firefly. Months ago she would have wished for money from her mother, or help finding her father. Not that she didn’t _want_ either of those things, but they seemed like a less pressing concern these days, when there were so many other things to think about as she traveled with her new friends, as she learned more about the world. When she had been a child she had wished for friends and to see the world. What else could she ask for?

Jester was jolted out of her thoughts by the feeling of the cart slowing down to a stop. Fjord turned around and smiled from his place at the front of the wagon, reins in his hands. “Think I found us the perfect place to make camp for the night,” he said to Jester with a smile and a wave of his hand. “What do you think?”

Jester followed the motion of his hand in the near dark and almost squealed with delight. Off the road, down the gentle slope of the embankment, there was a field, and the air above the field was filled with what seemed like hundreds of tiny blinking lights. “It’s beautiful!” Jester scrambled up and gave Fjord a kiss on the cheek, having just enough time to register his blush before she vaulted over the side of the cart, laughing as she ran down towards the field. She heard Beau laughing behind her, and when Jester got to the bottom of the embankment she stopped to give Beau time to catch up.

“You know,” Beau said. “We should help the others set up camp before we run off to have fun.”

“Probably,” Jester agreed, looking at Beau, smiling.

“Probably,” Beau echoed, smiling back.

They looked at each other for the space of several heartbeats before they both laughed and ran off into the grass.

It was harder to catch fireflies than Jester had thought it would be. The insects were nearly invisible when they weren’t blinking, and the patterns they moved in weren’t predictable at all. There was also the fact that she was easily distracted by her friends, once they had gotten the cart and horses taken care of and had joined the two girls in the field, setting up camp apparently postponed to take in the scenery. Jester approved of this fully, because what was the use of traveling if you didn’t just stop to take things in once in awhile?

Jester saw Nott leaping after fireflies, her clever hands catching them more often than not, admiring the shine and blink of the little insects before letting them go. Caleb looked on, smiling that fond little smile that seemed reserved only for Nott, different than the smiles that after all these months he now gave a little more freely to the rest of the group.

“Reminds me of late night watches out at sea,” Jester heard Fjord say. “The water would be so dark, but you could make out things shining down there sometimes. One time I saw a whole swarm of jellyfish swim by, glowing like the moon. It was really…” Fjord trailed off, sounding wistful. Jester knew he missed the ocean, even if sometimes he woke up from nightmares of drowning, gasping and coughing as if the air had turned liquid in his lungs. He hadn’t coughed up salt water since that one time, not that she knew of, but he always smelled like the sea.

Yasha stood silently in the coming darkness and the fireflies came to her, landing in her hair and blinking their messages to themselves and the world. Molly chuckled and reached up to gently untangle the strands of hair that had trapped the unwary insects. “This keeps happening. Remember last summer and the bees? It was a wonder neither of us got stung.”

“At least fireflies don’t buzz loudly in your ears,” Yasha said. “That was upsetting.”

“There are many stories about bees being messengers between the dead and the living, or between gods and mortals.” Caleb said. “Maybe they were trying to tell you something.”

“Huh,” Jester heard both Molly and Yasha say at once, and they both sounded thoughtful. The fireflies that Molly freed from Yasha’s hair flew away only to settle on Molly’s horns, blinking like living jewelry.

Jester turned her attention back to the fireflies, but every single one of them managed to evade her. “Can one of you stay still for a second so I can wish on you please?” She called out into the night.

“Hey Jester, over here!” Beau called out, excited.

Jester ran over to Beau, who was holding something in her cupped hands. “I saw you weren’t having any luck catching any, so I caught one for you! Here, hold out your hands.”

Jester held out her hands and Beau placed her cupped hands in hers. Jester could feel the firefly’s feet tickling against her palm and she giggled, watching the greenish-yellow light of the insect flicker out between Beau’s fingers.

“Do you think the wish still comes true if I didn’t catch the firefly myself?”

“Oh sure,” Beau said easily. “I mean, I’m _giving_ it to you, so I would think that would count. What are you going to wish for?”

Jester looked down at their cupped hands, Beau’s skin warm against her own, and then up at Beau’s face, her eyes shining and her smile soft in the fading light. When Jester leaned forward over their joined hands, she moved slowly enough for Beau to back away or protest, but Beau did neither of those things. The kiss was a gentle meeting of lips, sweet as the scent of honeysuckle that permeated the air and much slower than the blink of a firefly.

When Jester pulled back, Beau was grinning. “Oh wow, that was… whose wish came true just now, yours or mine?”

“Yes,” Jester replied, and laughed softly, and kissed Beau again.

The firefly slipped through Beau’s fingers and flew off into the night, forgotten, its work done.

**Author's Note:**

> Yasha getting bees and fireflies caught in her hair was based on one summer, back when my hair was long, where that happened ALL THE TIME. I don't know if it was my shampoo or what, but if I went out during the day it was bees, and at night it was fireflies. 
> 
> I'm angel-ascending over on Tumblr if you want to drop by and say hi!


End file.
